Refusal Of Jonathan To Visit Epicenter Of Boko Haram Is Indefensible

Dr.Baba Ahmed was defending the indefensible at the 1st Annual Ahmadu Bello Memorial lecture in Abuja by equating the refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to visit Borno and Yobe States:epicenter of Boko Haram insurgency, with the inability of the chairman of Northern States Governors' Forum, Dr. Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu to visit the troubled states. For crying out loud, Jonathan is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and can be adequately protected by the army he commands to make the journey to the North East States. The chairman of Northern States Governors' Forum may be influential but he commands no troops. This reminds one of the famous quote from Stalin when he was told that the Pope is very powerful and his views must be taken into consideration in his government's policies. The story goes like this: IT is said that in World War II, when the Soviet dictator Stalin was advised that the Pope was against one of his policies, he asked: "How many troops does the Pope have? God is on the side of the big battalions." The President must play his role as the sympathizer-In-Chief of the nation as President Barack Obama does in any man-made or natural disaster in United States. He needs to sympathise with Borno and Yobe people and also invite all the families of dead victims of Boko Haram bombings and empathize with them and adequate compensations paid to them to rebuild their lives.Jonathan must show that he is a caring President. He cannot hide in Aso Rock and pretend that everything is okay, while some people are trying to justify his actions. Whatever negotiation that Federal Government reaches with Boko Haram must include compensation for the families of the dead worshipers and the rebuilding of destroyed places of worship.It is a problem that only Jonathan can solve as the commander-in-chief.

While I disagreed with Dr. Ahmed on the justification for the refusal of Jonathan to visit the troubled states in the North East, I share his sentiment that the Northern elites must take the blame for the political, social and economic decline of the region especially for the policies they engineered that made the region a fertile ground for groups like Boko Haram to emerge and flourish.